@Farlander said in Character progression and power:
@Gothix I would say most players would adapt to the controls within the first week. However, I don't feel someone that has been working a character a year and unlocked alot of knowledge and gathered a decent amount of gear will have much trouble with a character that has been around a month even. My personal feelings though
I think that's a safe assumption. New characters will have a limited pool of abilities, limited gear availability, and likely a very limited or completely empty perk tree. People can call it horizontal all they want to if it makes them feel better. The only real difference is that there aren't levels. BUT. While that's true, almost everything else that comes with a level system is included in the game. Abilities usually gained through levels are gained through knowledge points. Perk/Skill tree points usually gained through levels are gained through knowledge points, converted to perk points. Speaking of the knowledge system, it's simply the experience points that a leveled system has. But instead of being used to level your character automatically, it's used to unlock the abilities and perks manually.
Like I said earlier, it appears that the only game changer is that there isn't an automatic damage mitigation applied to your characters based on your level, in comparison with your opponent. And that should allow newer characters to compete to a point. I'd love to revisit this conversation when the majority of the progression system is implemented, along with all of the typical gear, and see just how slanted a fight would be in a veterans favor. A veteran who's perk tree is largely complete, who has high level gear and a large and varied ability pool to choose from. Until then, while it seems obvious to me, it's still speculation. Even the developers likely don't know exactly how this will play out in the long run.